The primary goal of this site is to provide mature, meaningful discussion about the Vancouver Canucks. However, we all need a break some time so this forum is basically for anything off-topic, off the wall, or to just get something off your chest! This forum is named after poster Creeper, who passed away in July of 2011 and was a long time member of the Canucks message board community.

Naslund Is King wrote:For the good of the Canucks I hope Aqualini loses.

I have had business dealings over the years with the parties to all sides of this dispute, and for the life of me I can't fathom the above sentiment.

Francesco Aquilini has let DN spend to the cap and has given him a bigger budget than McCaw ever gave Burke. From a fan's perspective, that's a great thing.

Gaglardi, on the other hand, has a business reputation of being, first and foremost, a cost-cutter. He's good at grinding for every cent he can in business contracts and prides himself on leaving nothing on the table for the other guy. I've seen him drop quality suppliers, good advisors and good people from his organization because they would not accept lower-than-maket fees and salaries. Now, that's not a bad way for a businessman to run things - in fact it can be pretty profitable in the short term. But if you apply that business model to the Canucks, do you think it will be good for the fans?

Heck, from the trial transcripts we already know that Gaglardi strongly objected to the size of the contract Burke gave Crow. Would you, as a fan, really be happy with an owner that meddles with his GM's hiring of a coach over salary issues?

Hey, I used to live in Toronto when Ballard owned the Leafs. It wasn't pretty.
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Heck anytime you have an owner that lets good people do thier jobs without micro-managing, thats a good thing. When you have a guy (owner) that lets a team spend more, do more, and is concentrating in getting the right people into the right places, why would you hope we get rid of him?

The 'Chain of Command' is the chain I am going to beat you with untill you understand I am in charge.

Yeah, he was always around, sorta like background radiation, whenever I dealt with Orca Bay. A bright guy. Very, very good at managing his relationship with his boss. Like a lot of hired guns who work for big money, whether its private equity guys, hedge fund managers or pension managers, over time he's developed some of that "buy side" arrogance that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. The guy I had more dealings with at Orca Bay was his predecessor, Stephen Bellringer, who's an absolute prince of a guy. I have a lot of time and respect for Steve.

Yeah, he was always around, sorta like background radiation, whenever I dealt with Orca Bay. A bright guy. Very, very good at managing his relationship with his boss. Like a lot of hired guns who work for big money, whether its private equity guys, hedge fund managers or pension managers, over time he's developed some of that "buy side" arrogance that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. The guy I had more dealings with at Orca Bay was his predecessor, Stephen Bellringer, who's an absolute prince of a guy. I have a lot of time and respect for Steve.

Not that I travel in the same circles as you but yes, I heard many people were unhappy when Bellringer left Orca Bay, he was well repected there. He was the one given the job to tie the can to Pat Quinn when we all know it was McCammon and Messier who got Quinn fired. Add to that Stan the Toady fired Burke and his contribution to the Canucks and the city of Vancouver was having fired the two most successful GMs in franchise history. I can't remember the exact name of the company he went to work for in Seattle when it became apparent McCaw was selling Orca Bay, I think it was Green Industries or something. I read somewhere it's a family owned company. It's the reason I refer to him as Stan the Toady. No matter how smart he is, he's like a remora, attaching himself to the biggest shark he can find, swimming in its stream and gobbling up leftovers. I wonder how he would do working in a corporate structure instead of family owned businesses.